One way to test the effectiveness of your brand: ask a five-year-old what the logo means.
Posts Tagged ‘logo’
A new perspective on branding
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012Logorama wins Oscar
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010The landscape is dotted with Malibu trees and MSN butterflies, and your AOL friends walk down the sidewalks while Michelin Man cops cruise the streets. This is the world of Logorama, the 17-minute film that took home the Oscar for Best Animated Short on Sunday.
Directed by French designers and filmmakers H5, Logorama features approximately 2,500 logos. When Adrian Shaughnessy of Design Observer reviewed the film in January, the heavily branded world depicted in the short caused mixed emotions:
I was struck by how many of the logos on show are rather wonderful — fine examples of the art and craft of graphic design. But this only served to reminded me of the essential conundrum at the heart of being a graphic designer; namely that the job is to create seduction and allure for our clients regardless whether it is a true reflection of reality or not.
Check out the world of Logorama for yourself to see how many of the logos you recognize thanks to our branded reality. It’s currently available for sale on iTunes, and you can also watch a preview on YouTube or Vimeo.
MSU abandons logo change
Friday, February 5th, 2010Michigan State University Athletic Director Mark Hollis announced today that plans to redesign the Spartan helmet logo have been abandoned.
Criticism erupted last month after news leaked of a brand redesign scheduled to launch in April. At the time, the official statement from MSU was that the new helmet logo was “a single element of a comprehensive brand and identity project” conducted with Nike.
In today’s statement, Hollis addressed the concern over cost of a redesign, saying the university did not have to pay for the service. Hollis then responded to the criticism about redesigning an already powerful brand identity:
The recent disclosure of an updated Spartan logo from a trademark registration process has resulted in a flurry of concern and discontentment among some of our students, alumni, and fans. [...] Our primary objective is to achieve a strong and consistent Spartan brand, but rest assured that, as our mission statement attests, bringing Spartans together is one of our fundamental values.
Our identity and branding process is nearing completion and is on schedule for a complete rollout in April. The elements and applications of the brand design will be unveiled collectively at that time. After careful consideration, we will use the current Spartan logo design, first used in the late 1970s, to build our visual brand identity.
Right or wrong, the fans got the last word after all.
MSU brand redesign sparks criticism
Friday, January 22nd, 2010When Tropicana redesigned their packaging, customers protested. And when IKEA changed their font from Futura to Verdana, both fans and designers lamented the switch. These are just two recent examples of people making themselves heard with the help of the internet, with mixed results.
So imagine the reaction when news leaked yesterday that Michigan State University (MSU) plans to launch a redesign of the Spartan brand this April.
Current and redesigned helmet logos
News of the redesign, which was a two-year collaborative effort between MSU Athletics and Nike, spread quickly thanks to fan sites and social media. It wasn’t long before angry Spartans joined the Facebook group “JUST DON’T – No new Nike-influenced Spartan helmet”.
As fans took to the internet to give their opinions, news outlets tried to get more details about the redesigned logo. MLive.com and Detroit Free Press quoted MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis and Director of Athletic Communications John Lewandowski, respectively, saying the new helmet is “a single element of a comprehensive brand and identity project”.
This isn’t the first time the MSU helmet logo has changed — the most recent was in 1983. But whether this branding strategy is about changing a single image or revamping everything from colors to fonts, there is a question that has yet to be answered: why?
Not only is the Spartan brand already a powerful identity, but MSU announced in October a plan to restructure in light of the state’s poor economy. Included in the plan was the elimination of 13 master’s degree programs and 16 undergraduate degree programs. While it’s still unclear how Nike’s involvement with the redesign factors into the overall costs, this brand project will cost money to implement. How is a major re-branding effort part of the plan to cut the budget?
My guess is that MSU isn’t happy about the premature timing of this announcement, but I hope the surge of criticism encourages them to examine — and explain — the logistics behind the redesign. And who knows? Maybe the fans will get the last word.
